Review lodged over disabled centre's closure

By Katia Harston, Chief Reporter
Tuesday 27th May 2014

A JUDICIAL review has been lodged over the closure of a centre for the severely disabled which is due to shut on Friday.

Roy Fellows and businesswoman Ann Burns have instructed solicitors to go ahead with the legal challenge, claiming assessments weren't carried out on how the closure of the Carlton Centre would affect users.

Barnsley Council, together with The Disabilities Trust, which owns and operated the centre, came to a decision to close it at the end of May because of a fall in numbers.

The legal challenge comes after Roy, whose partner attends the Spring Lane centre, and Ann developed a business plan for a social enterprise to run the centre because there is 'nowhere else' for them to go.

"We've set up a charity called Physical Futures to take over the running of it," said Roy, a retired curator, of Huddersfield Road, Darton.

"We asked centre users if we kept it open would they attend and 13 said yes. This shows on the current client list it is viable."

They sent the business plan to the council but Roy and Ann claim they have had 'little response' about it.

A council spokesman said: "A group of carers has recently expressed an interest in setting up their own service, and the council is supportive, providing support and advice as appropriate."

He said all the service users were informed and offered a review/reassessment following the announcement of the closure.

"Those that were reassessed have been offered alternative services, but a small number have declined the offer," he said.

I think it's the only alternative to set your own centre up to service the needs of the users whose needs have quite obviously been disregarded. The one in great houghton does something similar but unfortunately the owners didn't provide rough room for the workers to park and therefore cause problems for elderly residents who are now unable to park their cars outside Their homes causing them undue stress.